Vegan Outreach Welcomed at Hospital in Mexico

Emmanuel Márquez, the  México Outreach Coordinator for Vegan Outreach found the staff and students at the School of Medicine and Nutrition at Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED) very receptive to information.  
I've pasted the article below.


Mario Arce, MD [pictured right] leads the Healthy University Program, and he was very excited about our visit. He and many others used the iAnimal virtual reality headsets to see factory farming from an animal's perspective, and they took literature and signed up for our emails to receive recipes and support.

Dr. Arce talked with us about the increasing demand for nutrition services for vegans and vegetarians, asking if the school should consider including a plant-based nutrition course. We said yes, of course! He also told us he used to recommend fish and chicken to his patients, but he will no longer do that.

Dr. Arce then gathered groups of students to come to the table so I could explain what we were doing, give them information, and invite them to use the virtual reality headsets. The Coordinator of the Nutrition Studies Department also used the headset and then signed up to receive more information from us!

The rest of the afternoon, we had countless positive interactions with nutrition and medical students open to veganism. Brenda [pictured left] studies medicine and told us she tried to stop eating meat a few times but failed. With the info and support she received from us, she is ready to make it permanent.

Today, VO not only created more vegans and vegetarians, we helped to create more professionals in the health sciences field who will support people who want to make these same changes toward vegan eating and who will use food as medicine. We're now in talks about having more and bigger events to promote plant-based eating among UJED students.

Dear Abby Letter about a Grandfather Feeding Chicken Nuggets to His Vegetarian Grandchildren

There was another vegetarian-related letter in Dear Abby yesterday.  Vegetarian parents found out that the children they hoped to raise with no meat were being given chicken nuggets by their grandfather.

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/dear-abby-grandpa-foils-kids-vegetarian-diet-with-chicken-nuggets/article_427b0d41-82dc-5907-a5a0-4330c3de9c1c.html

Vegan Message at Landmark Theaters

I was happy to see this sign in the Landmark Theater at the Opera Plaza.

Alternative Baking Company is dedicated to helping make the dairy and meat industries obsolete by providing gourmet quality, vegan alternatives to traditional baked goods!

The movie Toni Erdmann  was good but about an hour too long!

Vegan Girl Scout Cookies

I just had the urge for something sweet and reached into the box of mint Girl Scout Cookies I recently bought on West Portal.

The girls and mothers at the table near Vicente weren't sure whether they had any vegan cookies, so they looked at the ingredients.

http://www.peta.org/living/food/girl-scout-cookies-now-vegan/

I do see the use of palm oil, and that's too bad.  Apparently two Girl Scouts discovered this themselves in 2010 and had a media blitz, resulting in the makers of the cookies saying that they'd look for a replacement, but the palm oil is still listed after 7 years.

http://www.ran.org/girl-scouts-and-palm-oil

Miyoko Schinner Proves Times Have Evolved since 1997

I'm still reading The Vegetarian Crusades with great interest, but in addition to that there was an article by Tara Duggan, who writes about food issues, in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning (when my newspaper arrived miraculously on one of my top steps instead of a short distance away from the house).

"Vegan startup gets lots of investors compares her efforts to get investments in her vegan food Company Now and Zen after she started it in 1997 and her current success.

She had to close Now and Zen in 2003, but that's really changed.  I've tried her vegan cheeses, which are my favorites, but I thought thy were available only at Whole Foods.  I see that her VeganButter and Fresh Vegan MOzz are now sold iat Trader Joe's and even Raley's as well.

She thanks Millennials, and that's what Javier and I have been thinking.  When we go to vegan places, it's so often that young set we see!

"People are eating foods that align to their mission in life," she says.

That fits in with the American Vegetarian Society back in the 1850's too.  They were against slavery of every kind and generally very idealistic.

What Is Milk? Wisconsin Senator Wants It To Be Exclusively Dairy

There's an interesting article in today's SF Chronicle, "Nut, dairy industries in froth over 'milk' label" by Tara Duggan, reporting on Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin's proposed legislation called the Dairy Pride Act to make it unlawful for beverages made from soybeans, nuts, coconut, hemp or other plants to be labeled 'Milk."

http://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Who-owns-milk-Nut-and-dairy-industries-10924668.php

Almond milk sales have soared 250 percent in the past five years and per capita cow milk consumption has gone down 11 % during that period.  Milk prices have dropped.

California is the country's largest producer of both milk and almonds and also has the most vegan restaurants.  (I image that's partly due to the large population.)  

I learned that the Plant Based Foods Association in San Francisco represents 68 makers of animal product alternatives like Daiya Foods.  They sent a letter to Congress urging the members to reject Baldwin's proposal because it would hurt them.

Others speaking out included Miyoko Schinner, the vegan cookbook author and founder of Miyoko's Kitchen in Fairfax, where the vegan "cheese" we like comes from.

Mintel says 49 percent of Americans drink nondairy milk alternatives, but almond milk still makes up only about 5 percent of the total fluid milk market, according to Nielsen. (What percentage does milk make up?  Soy?  Rice?)

Tara Duggan does offer reasons that people choose nondairy milk alternatives:  "allergies or perceptions that plant-based foods are better for you, more environmental, or more humane."


Overall per capita consumption of dairy products is up--4 percent between 2013 and 2015--even though fluid milk consumption is down.

Michele Simon, head of the Plant Based Foods Association says that "Dairy Pride" is actually an acronym for "Defending Against Imitations and Replacements of Yogurt, milk, and cheese to Promote Regular Intake of Dairy Everyday."

I think Baldwin's Dairy Pride Act is going to lose.  As someone points out, peanut butter doesn't contain butter.    Almond milk has been mentioned in literature since 1226.  (I'd like to know how and in what.)  Soy milk has been around since about 1365 according to "History of Soy and Other Non-Dairy Milks," co-written by William Shurleff of Lafayette.  Duggan identifies him as "the nation's preeminent tofu chronicler."

The Vegetarian Movement as Part of the American Reform Movement

One of the most fascinating books I've read on vegans and vegetarians is Adam D. Shprintzen's The Vegetarian Crusade:  The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921.

Because I have a breakfast buffet of books, I don't get around to every book on the buffet every day, but this morning I read about the parents of Louisa May Alcott, who were very active in trying to support a diet free of meat in order to promote social justice and animal welfare.

Their "utopia" was called Fruitlands which sounds like a vegan attempt at paradise.

Even their clothes were thought-out and made of linen to avoid all animal products such as well and cotton, which was slave-produced.  Even the fields were tilled only by people, but the people turned out to be primarily Louisa May Alcott's mother, who quickly became disenchanted with Fruitlands for that reason!  She wrote that a woman "may 'die daily' in the cause of truth and righteousness.  She lives neglected, and dies forgotten."